Description: "Rhizome forming a massive, somewhat spherical trunk to ca 60-90 cm high and 45 cm diameter Stipes thick and fleshy, to ca 2 m long, the base swollen and
bearing two flat, rounded, dark brown, leathery, stipule-like outgrowth ca 5-10
cm long. Lamina 2- to 4-pinnate, glabrous, very large and spreading, to
over 7 m long and to ca 2.5 m broad, the pinnae ca 30 cm wide; ultimate segments
shortly stalked, commonly (8-) 10-13 (-20) cm long, (0.8-) 1.5-2.5 (-4) cm wide,
linear, the base unequally wedge-shaped to more or less rounded, especially on
the basal side, the margins shallowly toothed, often with a long, narrow,
acuminate, more deeply toothed apex. Veins close, making a wide angle with the
midrib, free, simple or once forked near the base, with pale, translucent
false-veins running between them for a short distance from the margin. Sori
without indusia, consisting of 3-7 pairs of sporangia clustered along the
lateral veins near the margin" (Andrews, 1990; pp. 16-17).

Habitat/ecology: Moist forest and rainforest at low to middle elevations. In Hawaii, "naturalizing freely in the Lyon Arboretum and other local botanical gardens, apparently spreading by spores shed from cultivated plants into nearby areas. This fern appears to naturalize freely in wet valleys. It
soon overtops the surrounding native and exotic vegetation, quickly spawning
swarms of offspring downslope/downwind of the parent plant" (Staples &
Herbst, 2005; p. 39).